I finally saw the show, yea. As I sat there the intro was great, some racing, some mud, some rock crawls. Than he came on about the small 4x4 Suzuki, Honda, Yam, and two other. He rode them around and finally picked the Suzuki and Honda as the top performers. That show wasn't that bad.

My thoughts,
Show some more racing with set-ups.
Show Mud with machine set ups. Not my bag but it could be cool to watch.
Show the Wrinch thing, I'm sure he can't help himself.

Smitty

 

Fine...I can understand if he wants to make it Utility ATV-TV, but even in that case it still isn't very good.

I can deal with watching Ute quads doing cool stuff...I'm a quad lover in all aspects. Sure, I'd prefer to see some high flying sport guys, but any action shots of any type of quad would be nice.

The point is he spends way too much time talking and showing footage that doesn't even have an ATV in it. When I go riding I too like to soak up the scenery, but that isn't the reason I go. If I want to see shots of scenery I'll tune into the travel channel.

I don't even mind watching the quads be winched up a waterfall...it was cool in a way. It got kind of sickening after like the third time they showed it though. Some of the shots when they did the Polaris 700 intro were cool too, but they show a 10 second clip of a quad then spend the rest of the time between commercials talking about stupid stuff.

I don't mind the talking either, but typically what a show like that does is show footage of what they are talking about in action.

The perfect example is Car & Driver TV on TNN. That show is great, and if they could have an ATV show modeled after that it would be great too.

-Josh

 

I hate to do this to Doug but, if you really want to get results talk to his advertisers. They are the voice that matters mostly to a producer.

MX

 

Speaking of advertisers...the commercials are the best part of the show.

-Josh

 

The commercials mostly annoy me because they are the same every episode. I do like the Honda commercials. They have a nice feel to them.

One thing to keep in mind, a half hour format is a tuff one to put a lot of real content into. After you account for commercials, you really only have about 20 minutes to use and then you have to plan for branding for the show (the opening sequence, the lead ins and outs, credits/thanks) when all that is included you have about 18 minutes to work with. It would be really dificult to cover more than one or two concepts very well. So, you say, take it to an hour. Too costly, this show is payed for by advertising and as it is Doug's choices of potential advertisers are limited so, he doesn't have a lot of room to move in.

So, with little time and money, the important thing for the show's producer is to pick a specific audience. He has chosen, wisely, the utility market because there is a bigger and wealthier audience there.

Here are some ideas I think would improve the show:

*Don't think of it as a magazine article- Think of it as a documentary. To do that you need to put real people in there and real riding situations. Since the focus is on utility, Cover some trails that provide different terrain(eg. mud-oriented, tight trails, whatever) that is specific to different parts of the country and have real people doing it. That would provide at least some eye candy.

*Re-think the manufacture relationship- Again this is a magazine mentality. The only way to truly serve both the manufacture and the potential seller is to put the product in real scenerios with real people riding and the truth about the product will come out. If the Prairie 650 belt slips in creek crossings - get it on tape and talk about it but, let the rider talk about it, not the host. If it totally blows the doors off the other bikes - get it on tape.Also, no more "Pros and cons" - to watered down. It's a tuff position to put yourself in but, you will get the viewers with this style and if the manufactures don't like it then there are always the aftermarket folks who make their money from fixing these problems.

There's more but, that will suffice for now. I hope Doug keeps going with it and looks to improve it. We need something more interesting on cable than what is currently available

MX

 

I bet out of 18 possible minutes of atv material we get about 6.5. I also think for time sake he should only include the realy relevent parts of the test. If he says a machine was stable at top speed that's fine I don't need to see him switch through all the gears and wind it out. But if he says something was tippy in the corners or has a poor turning radius show us. Back it up.

 

It's much easier to SAY "it's tippy in the corners" than to show it. Especially, when you are a magazine writer[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

I think the show is a great concept but, it needs work. If you see his other shows,4x4tv I think is one, they follow the exact same format...they just feel light on content.

MX

 

I agree but if your going to take a bike around a track or whatever I would think you would set up your camera men at strategic points to show certain things.

 

I am not sure but, I don't think he has an extensive camera crew, from what I have seen of the show. He probably has one camera going. As a matter of fact, like other tv shows, he has a pocket full of certain shots he uses on every show (about 5 if I am remembering them all)

Pretty 'cookie cutter' at this point.

MX

 

I bet he has 2 cameras I believe you can see them switch sometimes. I also remember reading something on the outdoor channel website saying that something was under new management or had a new president or something and that they were going to give atv television an hour instead of a half hour.